Paper
by OhN0
Summary: She was quiet, but her actions were loud. She was small, but her determination was larger than any of those around her. Borne in a world she knows will be falling apart at the seams, she will strive for the power to change it. But yeesh, that ninja stuff sounds boring. [FEM SI-OC, Verges from Canon] [Paper Release Fanfiction]
1. Akiya

**Summary:** _ **She was quiet, but her actions were loud. She was small, but her**_

 _ **determination was larger than any of those around her. Borne in a world she knows**_

 _ **will be falling apart at the seams, she strives for the power to change it.**_

 **Largely inspired by KannaKyomu's 'It Ends At Dawn'.**

 **[FEM SI-OC, Verges from Canon]**

* * *

 **Akiya-** _ **bright night**_

* * *

Soft violet eyes gazed down upon a small town, the morning sun casting long shadows to stretch into the dirt streets. The older population was stirring, making their way to their daily jobs. Lights flickered on as the town awoke with the dawn, and the doors to local restaurants and shops opened to sell what little they had. Children burst from the homes dotting the small village, laughing and talking as they took off towards bakeries for morning sweets.

Akiya sat silently in a tall oak tree, light brown hair taking on a reddish tint in the rising sun. Next to her sat two books, balancing precariously on the high branch. In her hands was another book, opened and currently being read. On her shoulders, a too-large hand me down reddish brown jacket hung loosely, sleeves empty. Underneath, she wore a plain white tank top. Covering her thighs and stopping before her knees was a pair of black shorts, the several sizes too big waist secured by a white drawstring.

Her hair was secured in a sloppy ponytail, a developing side fringe covering part of her forehead and the eyebrow of the left side. The book she held was titled _Kanji, Grade 2_ \- a simple book of what she had always referred to as the Japanese language, but she had discovered was simply called common tongue in this world.

There were many things different in this world, she thought morosely.

"Akiya-chan, breakfast!" Sasami, the blonde woman who cared for them, called from below.

Said girl closed her book, slipping an origami flower in to save the page. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before picking up her other books, holding them close to her chest. She slipped off of the branch in a practiced motion, bare feet landing steadily on the green summer grass with an elegance she'd never been capable of in her last life. Perhaps if she had tried harder, she may have acquired something similar.

She hadn't, though. That was over, and she really needed to stop thinking about it.

"Hai, Sasami-san!" She replied in her high pitched four year old voice, lightly jogging over to the slightly raised wooden platform of the back porch. The woman looked down at her and ruffled her hair affectionately before walking inside, Akiya closely following and closing the sliding paper door behind her. As Sasami walked towards the adjoining kitchen, Akiya slid into a seat next to a black haired boy named Ryushi.

"Did they say what was for breakfast today?" Akiya questioned the six year old, her voice a low mumble as her eyes swept over the forms of her fellow orphans.

"Mm, miso soup." The boy replied, dark green eyes glancing at her for a moment before facing the direction of the arch leading to the kitchen. They never did seem to look at her for very long. She distantly pondered that.

She mentally groaned- she was getting really tired of miso soup. She reached out towards the fruit basket in the center of the long wooden table to grab a red apple, placing it in front of her and wordlessly claiming dibs. Sakura, a brunette five year old, gave her the best puppy eyes she could muster. They had a silent conversation as they valiantly battled for the much sought after fruit.

(Akiya had to wonder why she hadn't just gotten it earlier if she had wanted it so bad. Did she just want to mess around? Perhaps that was a personality quirk children have that she had long forgotten.)

The girl gave her wide eyes. _You know you want to give that to me._

Akiya raised her right eyebrow. _Oh, really?_

The girl's eyes widened. _Yes, of course you do._

Akiya's eyes became half lidded as a lazy grin grew on her lips. _I'm immune to your feared puppy dog eyes._

Sakura's brown eyes narrowed as her face went from begging to tired defeat. _You win, my great lord and forever winning senpai._

(Akiya knew that wasn't what the other girl was thinking, but she could dream.)

Akiya's face brightened in a smug smile as she took a bite out of the apple, the crunching sound it made filling her with satisfaction. She had fallen victim to the puppy eyes many times, and had only recently grown an immunity to such a dangerous tactic. That girl would be impossible to deal with when she was older.

As the miso soup pot made a dull thud on contact with the table, and the other eleven children began to dig in with gusto, Sasami raised a hand in an action meant to bring attention to herself. The clanging of spoons and bowls quieted as several children turned to look at her. Akiya was sure that the others were listening in some sort of form- usually, if either of their adult overseers asked for attention, something entertaining happened.

Sasami gave them a tight lipped smile, trying to appear cheerful. The other children hadn't seemed to notice that she was faking it. Maybe that was something only adults were truly aware of.

(Akiya had noticed many things in her childhood this time around that she hadn't in her last. Perhaps it was because she was an adult in her mind.)

"Well, kids. Exciting news!" Though her face kept the smile, and her voice was steady, there seemed to be a foreboding undertone to it that spoke of something that she was uncomfortable with. "Some shinobi from Konohagakure will be coming by within the week! If anyone shows any potential to be one of our country's ninja, you'll be permitted to move to Konoha and join their Academy."

Several children broke out into excited murmers and bright grins, but Akiya was _frozen._

Konohagakure. Shinobi. Japanese language, but never referred to as such. Children playing a game called ninja. Why did this all sound so famili- oh, no.

 _Oooh, no._

"U-Um, Sasami-san." When said adult turned her gaze over to her, she asked the dreaded question. "What country do we live in?" She mentally congratulated herself for not stuttering the second time.

She gave the girl a bewildered look. "Fire, of course."

 _Oh, no. Fuck_ no. She did not agree to this.

"A-And, which Hokage is in rule right now?" She muttered, panic quickly becoming apparent in her voice no matter how viciously she attempted to hide it. Damn, usually she was pretty good at keeping up fake appearances.

"Namikaze-sama, honey. Are you alright?"

Namikaze. So Naruto wasn't born yet. If she was correct, she lived in a northern town of Fire Country. They didn't see shinobi at all, really. That may have just been because they were a small town with no trade- they had a small orchard and some farms, but they didn't get involved in much.

"How old do you have to be to join the Academy?" To her own credit, her voice barely even wavered.

"You'll have to wait until you're six."

"H-Hai. I'm just going to go eat outside," She muttered, shooting up and totally forgetting her well-earned apple in her haste to get outside because _she was losing her shit._

She sprinted away like an angry shark was after her, because hell if she was going to break down in front of everyone.

She got to her regular meadow in record time, and as soon as she set her sight on the flowery grass she let herself lose it. She let out a yowl like some kind of wounded animal, grabbing her head and shaking it around as if there was a swarm of bees buzzing around her. Her hair came loose from its admittedly shitty tie, light brown locks flying around as her mind _whirled._

She didn't even realize the first time she used chakra until she was too deep in.

She felt like her consciousness broke apart into a million pieces, and the sound of crinkling paper filled her ears- or _whatever was her ears_ as her awareness spread throughout too many different parts for her to properly count and her chakra leaked into the air and suddenly she could _feel_ all of the chakra in _everything_ and oh, oh gods, it was _too much._

And as suddenly as it started, everything seemed to snap into place with the sound of tearing and the feeling of a million papercuts.

And she saw the final piece of paper slip back into position on her left arm.

She took a sharp inhale of breath as she watched the paper settle into a patch of her arm that had been missing several layers of skin- but she didn't see _blood_ underneath- it was _paper._

" _Oh, fuck,_ " She breathed, eyes wide and panic only growing because _that was Konan's ability_ why _did she have it?!_

She frantically attempted to slow her breaths and keep from hyperventilating, trying to calm herself down in any way possible because this was not normal why was she in this world she should have died long ago why _her_ out of all people to be _born in this-_

She crouched down into a ball, hiding her head between her knees as she tried to stop her quickening breaths, because if she had a panic attack while no one was around she was totally _screwed._

As her breaths slowed and the tears of her mini breakdown stopped flowing, she took a deep breath. She stood up shakily, arms loose. Bringing her right arm up to eye level, she silently encouraged it to do that again.

Several slips of paper drifted off of her arm, trembled in the air, and shot back into place as her already tired chakra reserves strained beyond what they were supposed to.

Without another thought, her body shut down, and she fell to the soft dirt and grass underneath her as all of her limbs ceased responding and darkness claimed her.

* * *

After that day, she began training herself religiously.

Ryushi left for Konoha, the Kyuubi was going to be wreaking havoc soon, and she lived in a country where a lot of shit went down that she had to be prepared for. She was stuck in a world where power was true safety, and she was hella determined to stay safe. She wasn't sure if the whole paper thing was a kekkai genkai or just an ingrained ability to those who loved oragami (which she did. She could control that, she could fold the paper however she wanted, and if she didn't understand something or memories from her past life came to haunt her she could give herself that feeling of control. She had a feeling it was something similar to people cutting themselves.), but it was useful, and she would learn how to properly use it.

She began simple: The leaf exercise. Doing it alone was difficult, but she managed. It helped that she had endless theories she could pull out of her ass, and also that she seemed particularly good in chakra control. It took a few days before she could do pebbles, but she was still finding it blessedly easy.

And then that led to tree walking. She wondered if there was a proper name for it in this world, or if she would forever have to use anime references.

Her face contorted in concentration as she focused a film of chakra to her hand. Carefully, she placed it on the bark of her usual tree in town. She gave it a few experimental tugs to see if it stuck, and when it did, she did the same to her other hand. She had always thought that Sakura doing it so fast was BS, but apparently that's an actual thing. She managed to do it _very_ easily.

She wouldn't complain.

As far as she knew, she was born in a very strange spot in the timeline. Minato and Kushina were still alive, but the Third War was also over. That might have also been a reason for their towns dwindling economy. Minato had reined for what, somewhere around two years before he passed? She'd need to be away from Konoha for a while- maybe never even go. She didn't want to get caught in Kurama's problems, and she didn't want Danzo setting eyes on her because she could do _something_ different. Because literally anyone who was different than the norm was pulled into his shenanigans.

She'd probably need to get caught up with how things worked in this world. That meant reading, more questions, and learning to fight. She'd also need to write down anything and everything she remembered from Naruto, because she doubted she would remember so many pieces of information throughout the years to come.

* * *

A year passed, and she made noticeable progress.

She didn't know her chakra nature- but that was alright. Naruto and Sasuke hadn't even known theirs until they were like, twelve or something, and they were still crazy powerful. She did, however, figure out what she was skilled in in things that did not directly relate to chakra.

Her taijutsu style was focused on a sort of flexibility, speed, and fluidity- there was very little power. She targeted vital and soft spots, using jabs and elbows. Her weapon of choice would forever be a dagger- or maybe it was a short sword. She experimented with sticks, and found that her best length was about as long as her forearm. She integrated belly dancing and street dancing into how she moved- both of them skills from her last life that she had not layed eyes on once in this world.

In the mornings, she would run to the meadow using no chakra, then do a lap around its perimeter. After that, she would use complex stretches- some from her last life, some she had read in this one, and some that she had randomly made up- to warm up her muscles and adapt them to the strain she would be putting on them from now on. She would then dance on the water to increase her focus, and twice a week she would make an arm into paper and practice using it as she moved.

(Most of the time, this resulted in her cutting herself or falling into the cold water. How was the water even so cold? It wasn't even autumn yet!)

She had dove head first into a mountain of books, courtesy of the generous library of the village. They never seemed to question her odd and suggestive choice of material, which she was eternally grateful for. Explaining to people that she was training to become a ninja at the age of four would be extremely awkward.

She had to wonder if that was a normal occurrence, though. It probably was, seeing as five year old Itachi had been sent out to a warzone.

In the end, she had three books of different Naruto plots, jutsus, ideas, and theories for different things. She had always loved fanfictions, and that was really proving to be useful to her now. When she had come to such a realization, she had released a dry bark of a laugh at the thought of her mother constantly scolding her for focusing on reading more than her grades.

Just look at her now.

Time passed, and she began coming to realizations that she had never bothered to consider before. For example, she discovered that she was a sensor. That had explained the sudden and, quite honestly, _painful_ feeling of an invisible pressure suffocating her when she had first drawn on her chakra. She was still trying to figure out why it had suddenly burst like a firework on the Fourth of July, but so far, she hadn't been able to discover the reasoning behind it. The only thing she had managed to come up with was Yang or Yin release, but that seemed extremely farfetched. The only thing she had to back up such a thought was that Konan had possessed one of those. Yang, she thought. Konan seemed like the white side of the Yin Yang.

She was making good progress for such a young age, really. It could probably be chalked up to her ability and knowledge.

She'd take what she could get.

* * *

Some time after her fifth birthday, she found herself wanting to try something she had been wanting to try ever since her first week of training.

She stood in her beloved meadow, which was currently covered in a thin layer of snow with the winter. She wore her hair in a simple, albeit messy bun, the light brown hair fading into a whitish shade at the bottom as the years passed. On the side of her head, she wore a light red origami hibiscus, three white feathers colored red at the ends sticking out from underneath. A black scarf was wrapped around her neck, and long matching sweatpants covered her legs.

"Alright, Akiya, you can do this," She muttered quietly to herself, raising her arms out to the sides.

Slowly, she allowed the paper that made her legs disperse and gather at her shoulder blades. She grabbed the paper around her waist with chakra and tentatively raised herself up, what was left of her legs exploding into hundreds of pink tinted papers like blood stains to form a pair of swan-like wings on her. She carefully tilted them slightly forward, raising them up.

She threw them down faster and harder than she had meant to, and she went _soaring_ into the sky with a startled shriek.

" _HOLY SHIT I'M FLYING!_ "

Her body spun momentarily, before she grabbed onto all the paper parts of her and steadied herself, giving the wins a slower flap as she wobbled around in midair.

A shit-eating grin grew so large on her face she thought that it would break.

Adrenalin flowing through her, she decided to go higher in a mighty large act of bravery. After a few flaps of her new paper wings, she looked down below her.

The ground below was like a field of white, hints of green and brown of trees showing through like unwelcome splotches of the wrong color on a painting.

As the strain on her chakra grew with the need for so much movement, she lowered herself to the cold ground. The burst of energy she had felt with her new favorite thing to do with her paper soon dwindled away as she fell flat on her face. Apparently forming your legs back with a frantically beating heart is difficult. That didn't matter right now, though.

A bright laugh, like one any her age were supposed to do, bubbled from her throat. Her eyes lit with a joy she hadn't been able to experience in this world with so many children, and it helped remind her than she was _alive._ There were so many things she could _do!_

Maybe she could just forget about this world's problems and just enjoy herself?

Yes, that sounded nice. She wouldn't become a ninja- she didn't want to serve any country. She would live on her own- do what she wanted when she wanted, explore a world where wilderness is at every corner and the air was fresher than anywhere on Earth, and see so many things!

And maybe drag in some people along the way.

Who knew?

* * *

 **So, there's the first chapter, I guess.**

 **If I decide to continue this story for a while, the updates will be randomly. At least once a month, though. If that doesn't happen, feel free to spam me with complaints. They'll probably be well deserved.**

 **Also, if you have any good ideas for the Paper ability that my OC can use, please feel free to tell me some! I can only be so creative.**


	2. Goddamn ROOT

**Hibiscus-** _ **beauty, unity, and peace**_

* * *

She tried, really. When she had decided she didn't want to be a ninja, she had been utterly serious. There was a single problem with that, though.

At the age of six, you're supposed to attend the recruitment meeting with the visiting career chuunin.

When she was six, and the day came, she had woken up early specifically to stay hidden in her little meadow. She had sat there, anxious, the paper of her arms forming blank little books as she stressed. She had doubted anyone would come looking for her, and she was right. She had gotten away with hiding out- she spent the day alone in the meadow, with no chakra signatures nearby except for animals.

But when she was seven, and did it again, she felt chakra presences around her. They weren't the small, nervous flickers of the children that wandered out every once in awhile- no, these were hardened, _powerful_ signatures, with an alarming lack of emotion to them. And when she was finally able to spot whose they were, her breath froze in panic.

Blank white masks.

Goddamn _ROOT._

Why the hell was ROOT even out here? It made no sense- as far as she knew, the village that she lived in had no sensors. They wouldn't have been able to sense her out here, then. Maybe someone had seen her without her knowing? Or- oh, _hell._ She would bet all of her Naruto information that the kids started bragging about her walking on the walls. What was she _thinking,_ showing them that?

She was lucky that she hadn't already let her paper loose. She sat with her legs crossed, trying to keep her breathing steady. She couldn't just call out to them like a smartass, as much as she wanted to- that was not going to help her here. She couldn't take off running, either. She really wished she had learned shunshin.

She was _royally fucked._

She slowly stood up, stretching her arms above her head in a fake stretch, trying for casual. She needed to get back into town. If she stayed out here, she had no idea what she could do against them. She hadn't ever fought anyone, and she was fairly certain she would barely last a few seconds.

So she turned and began walking towards the village, her brown hair drifting in the wind. Her feet were bare, like usual, but for once she didn't feel like it was safe. What if they trapped the area? What if they put those spiky things on the ground somewhere- caltrops, or something? She had never been in this situation, so she was not prepared for it in the least.

As soon as she got close enough to the village to feel the signatures of the civilians inside, and her hope had risen, they showed themselves. She wanted to scream. Of _course_ it couldn't be that easy. But had it really been necessary to give her that hope, then utterly _crush_ it? Was that some sort of bullshit ninja technique that they taught?

Probably, she thought.

Two figures flashed into existence before her, and she could feel the third hidden in the trees behind her. They had her surrounded, and she had no idea if there were more of them. She wasn't too great at sensing, and if some of them were skilled enough to completely reign it in, she wouldn't be able to detect them.

"Hello, Akiya-san."

The voice was decidedly feminine, with the characteristic fake emotion that she somehow recognized was like Sai's had been. Black hair was visible in a high ponytail- no hair out of place, looking all business.

"We're ninja from Konohagakure, and we are here to invite you to a special training program."

They spoke to her like she was an adult, so they knew she was smart. They outright invited her, so they knew she was special in some way other than being able to walk on walls. The problem was the fake friendliness in the voice- they still treated her like a child. So they must not have known everything, then- that was good. She still had a chance. She could still disappear, and not have to deal with this stress ever again.

"I'd rather not." She said flatly. Her violet eyes darted around her, trying to figure out the best place to run if she needed to. She couldn't see any traps- but then again, she had never been trained to spot them. Holy hell, she _really_ wanted to cry. It sounded pathetic, but she _wanted her mommy._ She _hated_ this body and its childish tendencies. Her brain was intelligent, but not enough. She could feel the wetness in her eyes, her breathing picking up, and the panic slowly building.

The head of the woman tilted sideways like a bird. "I'm sorry, but that wasn't a request."

Then all hell broke loose.

The two ninja in front of her darted forward, and she distantly registered the fact that the third one had just revealed itself behind her.

She took a deep breath of air, and launched herself into a side roll. The left hand of the black haired woman drifted over her head, kunai in hand, and she felt part of her long hair being cut (It was not appropriate at all at the time, but all she could think was _what a bitch! I liked my hair!_ ) and she shot up to her feet and _ran_ towards the village, chakra pooling from her feet and tearing apart the grass beneath her, but she couldn't stop because she could _feel them_ in pursuit, two in the trees and one on ground, more nearby- she ducked under a sword, more hair falling- and _holy shit she was going to die!_

Before she could even register what she was doing, her body followed through procedure in autopilot. Her legs kicked the paper sliding door of the orphanage off of its track, and she slid into her room and grabbed her Naruto books, her leather satchel, and dashed towards the kitchen.

She failed to reach it.

A lean man in a matching white mask poofed into existence in the archway of the kitchen, which aided in her panic because that wasn't one of the signatures from before so _there were more_ , and she had no hesitation as her left foot slid before her- she _swore_ that the friction had tore layers of skin- and took off towards the door she had entered from. Seeing the woman from before in the way, she threw herself through a glass window in the common room. She vaguely heard screeching of the other children, but she couldn't look back, and glass shards buried in her arms were really blurring her thoughts into a _mess._

She ducked and weaved through back alleys, and the only reason she knew they were still in pursuit was the senbon that whistled through the air. It could have easily hit her neck if she hadn't ducked.

Before she could understand or process _why_ she did it, the word, " _Catch!_ " was tearing from her throat as her body exploded into several small books around the feet of some sort of large chakra signature.

Oh, kami. If that signature had been another agent, she would already be dead.

She felt the other chakra signatures continue in the direction she had been heading, the much larger signature towering above her now split body flickered in confusion, surprise, and interest. Whoever it was, they apparently decided to just go with it, and picked up all of the papers on the ground.

Several minutes of movement passed. During the time that they moved away from the town, she had the uncomfortable feeling of the paper of her chest fluttering as she gained her breath. Finally, the books of the rest of her body were all placed on soft ground. Not feeling any signatures nearby, she allowed her body to reform with the sound of crinkling paper.

"Konan?" Came the quiet, questioning voice of a man.

Her head pieced itself together, and she choked in surprise.

Standing before her was this Toad Sage.

She wondered if she should've just let herself be caught. Instead of the epic introduction she had wanted to do, she instead broke out in tears from her previous experience.

Jiraiya's hands fluttered around anxiously, eyes flickering around in some demented sort of fear that made her release a choked laugh. This poor man had absolutely no idea what to do with a crying child. At least he helped her calm down in a twisted way.

She took a few steadying breaths, wiping the tears from her face while her small fit of laughter quieted.

"No, not Konan," She said, pushing her butchered hair out of her face. Kami, people are so rude- cutting her hair like this.

She looked up, startled, when Jiraiya released a hearty chuckle. She tilted her head questioningly.

"Yes, ninja can be very rude." He said, nodding sagely. She blushed when she realised she had said that out loud. She must be _really_ out of it.

She stood up, walking over to her bag, her body still shaking with the adrenaline of the chase. Her heart sank when she realised the pages of her books were all messed up. She released a small sigh. She probably should have expected that. Still, it was a little heartbreaking. Thankfully, she read the books on a regular basis, so she could just rewrite them later. Maybe in french this time, just to spice things up.

"And why did you have ninja chasing you, 'not-Konan'?"

His voice brought her back to the present with a jolt. She turned to face him, tilting her head as she pondered if she should tell him.

Eh, Naruto liked him. Why not?

"Because _apparently_ if you know how to walk up walls and turn into paper, you have to join a _special training program,_ " She spat out bitterly, agitatedly running a hand through her hair. Her life was suddenly a total disaster. She wished she that it had lasted until she was at least eight- this was just torture.

The Sannin took a seat in the grass, making it obvious that he wouldn't be letting her off easily. Instead of being irritated, she just let out a tired breath. Her young body wasn't designed to deal with this shit. She unceremoniously fell into a sitting position in front of him, ruined books taking their place on her lap.

"Turn into paper?" He said dully. Well, he was nothing if not straight to the point.

She decided to just be blunt. She was tired, and she didn't like repeating herself. She gave him a serious nod, and said slowly, " _Turn_ ing _in_ to _pa_ per."

He gave her a flat look.

What? Did he really expect her to just spit out- oh, what the heck.

"I believe it may be a kekkai genkai of some sort, but since my village has no ninja, I couldn't exactly ask. I've been practicing with it in the nearby meadow, but I guess someone must've seen me at some point." She said. "Can't believe I didn't sense them," she muttered as an afterthought.

Jiraiya waved his hands in front of his face in the universal _woah-woah-woah_ motion. "So you're saying that you can turn into paper _and_ sense?" She simply nodded at him, and received an exasperated look in return. "Why didn't you just go with the recruitment chuunin?"

"I don't want to be a ninja."

"Wha- why not?" He asked, voice turning into something mildly serious. His eyes were no longer the playful gaze they had been in the beginning, but something more probing.

"I don't want my life to be controlled by others. I just want to keep my knowledge to myself, keep my life to myself, and travel a bit. Is that so much to ask?" She gave him an incredulous look. To hell with the consequences, this shit has been pent up for _too long,_ she was utterly _exhausted,_ and she didn't feel like she was done crying yet. "It isn't like I _want_ to know the future and all of the crazy shit that's going to happen. It isn't like I _want_ to have to be able to defend myself so I don't die before I turn twenty. Why can't life just be _simple?_ Who the hell decided that throwing someone into the body of a child was a good idea? What the _fuck_ did they hope to accomplish by doing this?" She threw her arms up, standing up and pacing. "I don't care what this world _wants_ me to do! This is my goddamn life! I'll do what I want with it! And you and your twisted Councilman can piss off!" She finished, breathing heavily.

He gaped at her for a moment, before his mouth snapped shut. "Twisted Councilman?" He finally asked, voice quiet.

She sputtered for a moment, realising she had said that part out loud. " _Danzo_ and his goddamn _ROOT._ " She spat out angrily, crossing her arms and giving the Sannin before her a withering glare, as if that could kill the crotchety Sharingan stealer by doing so.

He was quiet for another moment, unperturbed, before he spoke, his words stern and measured. "How do you know about that? Does that have something to do with this ' _future_ ' you see?" He waved his hand in front of her before she could speak. "Nevermind. We shouldn't talk about this out here." He stood up, his white hair shining an obnoxious amount in the sun. "Come with me, little seer."

"D-Don't call me a _seer_ , you perverted old man!"

He released a startled laugh, picking up the small girl's bag and walking away with it. "Perverted old man? Just where do people figure this stuff out?" When she stood there, flapping her hands about in a way that seemed to say _what are you doing_ , he gave her a shit eating grin. "Coming, little lady?"

And that was how Akiya got dragged into travelling with the legendary Toad Sage.

* * *

As it turned out, the world was much different than she originally assumed. Not by a huge amount, but enough so that she was mildly shaken by the changes- but she was also so _happy._

Jiraiya and Tsunade had a daughter, and her name was Tali. She was seven right now, and lived with the Sandaime Hokage. She was, as he said, totally adorable. She had Tsunade's blonde hair and golden eyes, yet also possessed the red lines on his face that, as he described to her, were about three centimeters long the last time he saw her- which was when she was five. Tsunade was in Konohagakure often, but not all the time- when she was, though, she helped the hospital. She wasn't afraid of blood.

The Kyuubi had attacked when Akiya was six, but Konoha was recovering well. The Yondaime's son was in the same position he was in before- known only by the Sannin, Hatake Kakashi, and the Hokage. The rest of the village thinks that he perished in the very sudden battle.

Akiya told Jiraiya parts of the truth. She altered it by a long slide, but much of the previous information was there. She told him that she had lived before, and died at thirty three- she had also already lived through this time, and knew many things she should not. She had been a retired ANBU, and had had two children. She had also been of civilian origins. When he asked her name, she told him that she couldn't actually remember it- she remembered her children as twins- brown hair, both girls, tan skin, and blue eyes (this was all true. She had loved her children, and remembered them even though she had forgotten their names).

He had seemed suspicious at first, when she gave him pieces of information. She never told him what would happen in the future, but he took it in stride. She told him she knew of Naruto's origins- ' _No, I won't tell anyone. Sheesh._ '- that she knew of the Rasengan and how to train to get it, that she knew Naruto's chakra nature, that she knew of the Mangekyou Sharingan (he hadn't known this, and seemed very surprised, if not a little angry when she had bluntly stated the all thought they had to kill a loved one or best friend to obtain it), that she knew how Kakashi got his Sharingan- ' _I used to know him. He was always late to everything, but he only really did it to honor Obito.'_.

As a year of her traveling alongside him passed (he said he was just dragging her around until ROOT fucked off, but she knew he liked the company), he stopped seeming so suspicious. He taught her defense only in the beginning- he was surprised when she said she didn't mind, and he had the right to be suspicious of her and not teach her how to _kill him_ in hundreds of ways- and she learned diligently.

It wasn't until she was a few months past eight when he finally seemed to take down that wall that all shinobi seemed to have towards new people.

"You said you knew the steps to the Rasengan, correct?" He asked nonchalantly, but quietly. He was, after all, trying not to make the females past the wooden fence aware of his presence. At first, Akiya had been skeptical of his attitude when peeping, but had quickly grown used to it.

Said girl glanced up at him from where she was reading up on fuuinjutsu theories. She tilted her head questioningly- she had realised she did that a lot. "Yes, what of it?" She asked, picking up a pencil to scribble some notes in her half full notebook.

When he turned to look at her instead of continuing his spying on the women, she stopped writing. He never really stopped looking at them unless he was serious.

"Would you like me to properly teach you?" He inquired, black eyes looking directly at her. The question itself seemed honest, but there was a hint of nervousness. She wondered about that, sometimes- she thought that the nervous habit of his was because of her age, but had never directly asked him.

She blinked in surprise. "Are you sure, Jiraiya?" She asked slowly, trying to process this. Then a sly grin grew on her face, a victorious look in her eyes. "I _knew_ you liked me!" She whisper-exclaimed, looking as if she had just uncovered the greatest truth of the world.

He released a small _pfft._ "I never said that," He said, voice a childish whine. Then the seriousness crept back in. "But yes, I am sure. It isn't like you won't try it alone anyways if I don't teach it to you." She glanced away innocently at this, and an amused smile grew on his face. "But as I asked- do you want to learn it?"

She gave him a small smile. "I would love to." She answered honestly. She was surprised he offered, but hell if she was going to turn it down. As he turned back to resume his 'research', a thought dawned on her. "I also wanted to try out a new transformation variation." When he gestured his hand at her to continue, she did so. "I know the anatomy of a cat, and I can shape my paper into anything, so I was wondering if I could somehow use my paper to move my eye papers to the right place, and use the other pieces to make the bones and other parts of the body. The only problem is I'm not sure how it would work- I'm not even sure I'll have to make the inside. I might just have to make the outside of it and put my eyes in the right spot. But if I _do_ have to make the whole body, I don't know if I can make the paper move in such small proportions for things like the receptors in the ears."

He was quiet for a while, and she began to doubt he would respond.

"It's a good idea," He said after about half a minute, "but I'm not sure how that would work either. I've only ever worked with one person with your ability other than you, and we didn't really try anything with it. She had been content enough to be able to combine multiple pieces of paper or split them apart throughout large distances and still be able to hear from them. We didn't even know what the ability was except for the fact that it incorporated Yang release. Perhaps you should just work on trying to get your paper to move in those smaller sizes before you try anything like changing your whole body shape."

She nodded as he spoke, understanding that he was probably right. Even with forty years worth of life under her belt, he was still wiser. After all, she hadn't tested her abilities that far yet, and wasn't sure if she would hurt herself in the attempt. Better to be prepared than having to face the consequences later. "I suppose that's a good idea," She muttered quietly, already knowing that he was aware she had agreed. Still, he nodded anyways.

They spent the rest of that day doing the smaller things that they enjoyed. She sat with him and studied while he- well, _researched_ , and they went to an outdoor tea shop not unlike how Ichiraku had been depicted in Naruto. Then she hung out in the hotel room for a bit while he talked to his client in this town, and they went to the hotsprings when the sun set, exchanging a few words past the thin boundary between them, but were mostly content to drift on the edge of wakefulness.

Traveling with Jiraiya was interesting. He often took advantage of her sensory abilities- making her check for any nearby signatures, making her keep watch at night more than was probably called for, and asking her how full his reserves were after he trained. He also pointed at animals and asked her what the chakra felt like, gradually going to smaller and smaller animals to help her train her rare ability. He was goofy, but she knew that he was very smart. Sometimes he said things out loud that, to him, made perfect sense and seemed like common knowledge, when in reality, they were very large concepts that very few people knew of. Something that she really appreciated from him was that he never treated her like a child, except sometimes pointing out that they needed to stop training due to her body.

Sometimes, when she said things on a whim about things that even _he_ sometimes didn't know, he would ask her how she had discovered it. Such as when one day she had looked at a wooden beam with a dragon's head on the end, and had commented, _"Looks like that one Mokuton dragon jutsu."_ , and he had asked where she had learned of it. She had answered that in her previous life, there had been an ANBU member she had at one time been paired with that possessed the wood ninjutsu ability. He never really got upset with her for knowing somethings, and never really drilled her for future information- something about not wanting to mess around with the future- but at times he would seem uncomfortable with the vast knowledge she possessed. She really couldn't blame him, though.

Her training under him was strange, and often awkward. After all, she barely reached his elbow. While his favored style was focused on heavy and precise blows primarily on defense, her own was centered on speed and flexibility. When she displayed talents of flexibility she hadn't even known she possessed, he'd often mutter how she sometimes reminded her of that _'goddamn snake'_. She probably would have been offended if it wasn't so amusing. Her stance was something remnant of her previous life- something about airbenders and training. She thought it might've been from the new Avatar the Last Airbender show that her kids loved to watch- she had never really liked it much. She always preferred originals.

She could also pick up almost any instrument and proficiently play it. When she had first picked up a wooden flute and found that she actually remembered music, she had been ecstatic. The only let down was that she couldn't remember why, or the words to accompany it. She remembered that in her old life, bands were in many schools, but she felt like that wasn't why she was so good at it- she remembered too much music and was too- she didn't like to brag, but- _good_ at it to have been some simple band student.

Jiraiya liked to pop in at random times and drop new books on her, which she _loved,_ but also _hated,_ because she really didn't like him buying things for her. She eventually had to start putting storage seals on wristbands and hair clasps to carry around her new personal library.

When she had made her resolve to not mess with this world, and to live by herself on the road, she had known that she might be jostled around on such an attempt. She just hadn't expected it to be in the form of a legendary Sannin who decided to drag her around the Elemental Nations.

She knew that she would have to change at least _something_ , because now she didn't want this man to die.

* * *

 **Oh my god. I am so sorry for this wait- please don't kill me ;o;**

 **I've been really busy with school and sleeping and drama that I really don't want to be a part of- because seriously,** _ **fuck that**_ **\- but now it's all sorting out so I can update more often.** **I** _ **will**_ **continue this story!** **Maybe it'll even make it onto one of those big fanfiction communities someday and be popular or something. That would be awesome.**

 **Anyways!**

 **Akiya's life is finally turning into the shitstorm that it'll become for the rest of her life. Because really, no one gets to have a perfect life in a world full of goddamn lunatics who throw five year olds out into warzones. As you saw with the whole Tali thing,** **I will be changing some things** **about the world. Because realistically, not everything is drama. Some examples of things I'll be changing is that people aren't going to go into monologues or reveal plans during battles- they'll actually have to** _ **work**_ **to find things out. And not all of the main characters are going to survive, because** **realistically speaking, a bunch of twelve year olds can't really keep going against the strongest nin alive and continue winning** **. Kami, that is something that I can't stand about the Naruto anime and manga.**


	3. HELLO

**Alright: First of all, I would like to apologize for this being up so long without updates.**

 **The thing is, I wrote this fanfiction years ago, and had only posted it because I thought, '** _ **Oh, I should post this before I delete it to see if people like it.**_ **'**

 **So my writing has** **greatly improved** **since this was made.**

 **I'd like to know if you guys want me to rewrite it, or just continue it how it is. Please tell me in the reviews ;v;**


	4. Rewrite

**This story is being rewritten.**

Truth be told, I actually wrote this story years ago. The reason that I posted it originally was because I was going through my documents and deleting things- and whala, there was an old story. I had decided to post it and see if anyone liked it, and I ended up just posting the other chapters afterwards.

My writing has improved by a lot since then, but I also won't be updating as often as this story said I would. I'll probably update once every two weeks, or maybe once a month.

The new story will be called **Paper (The Rewrite)**

Pretty straightforward, yes. The main character won't be living in her little town anymore, so say goodbye to it.


End file.
